Iwata Family Residence Main House

A Large Townhouse on a Tottori Street

The Iwata Family Residence Main House (岩田家住宅主屋) is a large machiya townhouse of the late Edo period (1830 to 1868) in Tachikawacho, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on April 25, 2014 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a timber building, single-storey with a partial upper floor, tiled, with a building area of 182 square metres, remodelled in the middle of the Meiji era (1883 to 1897); registration number 31-0184.

An 8-Ken Front Facing West

The Iwata Family Residence Main House stands toward the south of the old castle town, facing a street to the west with a frontage of 8 ken, or bays (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A deep lean-to roof projects 1 and a half ken in front, carrying a projecting wooden lattice, and above it small mushiko-mado slit windows pierce the wall. A raised ventilating roof sits along the ridge.

Inside, an earth-floored passage, or Doma, runs down the left side as seen from the street, with two rows of fairly large rooms on the other side (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is the basic machiya plan, built on a generous scale.

Behind it, a tea house of 1900 adjoins the southeast corner of the main house, and an annex continues to the east (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes it as a large townhouse whose red roof tiles and deep lean-to show regional character, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. A late-Edo townhouse, remodelled in mid-Meiji, still stands on a street of the former castle town.

What to Look For

The street front is the thing to see: the projecting lattice under the deep lean-to, the mushiko-mado windows above it and the ventilating roof on the ridge, stacked one above another under red tiles (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The 1 and a half ken depth of the lean-to is the regional feature the Agency singles out; from the street you can judge how far the eaves reach out.

Visiting

No official information on interior access to the Iwata Family Residence Main House was found. Because the house fronts the street, its lattice, windows and ventilating roof are seen from outside without entering the property.